House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) delivered blistering remarks on Tuesday against the New York judge overseeing former President Donald Trump’s hush-money trial. The Louisiana Republican blasted Judge Juan Merchan during a press conference following a Republican conference meeting. Johnson accused Merchan, who has fined Trump 10 times for gag order violations, of undercutting Trump’s ability to defend himself in the middle of a presidential campaign. “The judge, who is a well-known Democrat, is pursuing an indefensible gag order on President Trump,” Johnson said, according to Just The News. “Think about the magnitude of that. He’s trying to override President Trump’s constitutional right to defend himself against the constant smears of his political opponents, in an election year.” Merchan issued a gag order against the former president in March that barred Trump from making remarks on potential witnesses, jurors, court staff, and attorneys. The judge later extended the gag to cover members of his own family after Trump pointed out Merchan’s daughter’s history working for elected Democrats. The judge fined Trump nine $1,000 fines for violations of the gag order last week. On Monday, the judge fined Trump another $1,000 fine and said the former president could face jail time if he continued to flout the court’s gag order. Merchan told Trump that jailing him could be necessary to “protect the dignity of the justice system.” The judge said he understood “the magnitude of such a decision,” noting: “You are the former president of the United States, and possibly the next president as well.” Johnson ripped the judge over the threat. “You cannot call yourself a serious judge and threaten a presidential candidate with jail time when he defends his reputation in public in the middle of a campaign. And I think everybody of good conscience understands that,” the speaker said. CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILYWIRE+ APP The Republican speaker also accused the Biden justice system of a double standard against Trump in the classified documents case brought by special counsel Jack Smith. “Biden, of course, willfully retained and disclosed classified material but because he is, quote, an elderly man with a poor memory, un-quote, it was decided that DOJ would not be bringing charges,” Johnson said. “What the American people see, and I mean, this is across the country, this isn’t just red states, it’s blue states as well. They look at this and they see an incredible double standard. It’s just blatantly on display. It’s the weaponization of our justice system. Every single person of good conscience and common sense can see that clearly and it’s disturbing to them.”

A Georgia appellate court agreed on Wednesday to hear a challenge to the ruling that allowed Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis to continue leading a 2020 election interference case against former President Donald Trump and his allies despite her romance with a subordinate. The Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia released a brief order that said the request from the defense seeking a review of a lower-court decision in March had been granted and noted the appellant may file a notice of appeal within 10 days. At issue is Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee’s determination that the defendants failed to prove a conflict of interest existed due to a romance between Willis and her special prosecutor in the case, Nathan Wade. However, the judge raised concerns about the “appearance of impropriety” and only allowed Willis to press forward after Wade resigned. Her other option was to step down. Trump and some of his co-defendants argued that Willis should be disqualified and that the case be dismissed, claiming the office romance flush with gifts and trips “created an appearance of impropriety in this case that cast a pall over these entire proceedings.” Willis then filed a motion insisting there was “no basis” to grant a review of the lower-court order. The Washington Post reported that Trump and his co-defendants are expected to ask the appeals to stay the proceedings while the appeal plays out after McAfee said he would not pause the process. A trial date has not yet been set, but CNN reported Willis hoped to have it before the 2024 election. Trump and 18 co-defendants pleaded not guilty to a bevy of charges in the Georgia election case, but four of them have since taken plea deals. As Trump seeks a second White House term, the former president has broadly denied wrongdoing across multiple cases. One election-related “hush money” case in New York has gone to trial while a judge delayed a federal classified documents case trial indefinitely. The Supreme Court is considering an immunity question in a federal election case. CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILYWIRE+ APP Willis, who is also seeking re-election, is facing GOP-led investigations in the U.S. House and Georgia state Senate. She recently skipped a debate, leaving her challenger for the Democratic Party’s nomination in the DA race, attorney Christian Wise Smith, to face off against an empty podium. Her office declined the invitation, citing concerns about Willis being limited in what she could say regarding ongoing litigation. The primary is set for May 21.

The New York Times published an article this week recounting the horrors some people have experienced after getting the COVID vaccine, and their inability to get help from doctors or vaccine injury compensation programs. But are these complications and side effects a result of the vaccines? The Times article begins by acknowledging, “…even the best vaccines produce rare but serious side effects,” and that over 270 million Americans have taken the jab. Through the course of multiple interviews, the Times investigation revealed that the harm caused by the vaccines can vary greatly. In one example, a woman with a Ph.D. in neuroscience who took the vaccine was eventually diagnosed with brain damage. She can no longer work or drive, and, at age 40, is back living with her parents. Another woman interviewed by the Times experienced Bell’s Palsy, or partial facial paralysis, and shingles on half her face. In another instance, a nurse practitioner named Sean Barcavage said since taking the first shot, his heart now begins to race every time he stands up. He also now has tinnitus. “I went from being a 100% healthy, fully functioning nurse into a complete downward spiral of health. I had a myriad of symptoms,” said Barcavage. LISTEN: Morning Wire’s report on vaccine injury While each person experienced symptoms they believe were caused by the vaccine, the side effects were not uniform. What is uniform, however, is the way in which their concerns were dismissed by doctors and the federal government. As the Daily Wire previously reported, there had been nearly 13,000 claims filed with the vaccine compensation program alleging harm caused by the pandemic response, with more than 10,000 of those claims citing the vaccine as causing injury or death. The government, which has just 35 people looking into the claims, had only determined that 40 claims were eligible for compensation, and just 11 were actually compensated, with an average compensation of around $3,600. That was in February, and the numbers haven’t moved much since. Now, 47 have been deemed eligible and 12 have been paid out, still with that low compensation average. A very small number of people. As the Times points out, “Some scientists fear that patients with real injuries are being denied help and believe that more needs to be done to clarify the possible risks.” But it’s not just the New York Times talking about this issue.  Others are starting to acknowledge the harm caused by the vaccines — even some who were at the forefront of the COVID response are now acknowledging that many were in fact harmed by the vaccines. Dr. Ashish Jha, the Biden administration’s COVID coordinator in 2022 and 2023, told NewsNation that people who were harmed by the vaccines must be taken seriously. “I worry a little bit that what has happened is we’ve gotten caught in the sort of politics of this,” said Dr. Jha. “…because as you know, there are a lot of people who’ve become very anti-vaccine. And so that means that a lot of doctors see these patients and worry that if they acknowledge that person suffering, that somehow they’re becoming anti-vaccine themselves. I’m very pro-vaccines. I got them. Everyone in my family got them. Still, I think we have to acknowledge this that is not just happening among doctors is happening inside the government. We just have to do better.” And Chris Cuomo, who famously emerged from his basement after quarantining for COVID, also said in an interview with Barcavage that he had long-term issues from the vaccine, and admitted that people weren’t getting help because of politics. “…I think there’s really no incentive to get out in front of this because it’s just bad PR, right?” said Cuomo. “I mean, nobody’s going to get patted on the back for saying, ‘Yeah, Shaun’s right.’ There’s, there are side effects on some of the vaccines or all of the vaccines that we should be talking about and figuring out how to treat. And there is long COVID and there’s lots – nobody wants to say that because it’s all political now.”

Transgender activists have called in thousands of hoax reports to a Utah tip line in an attempt to hamper enforcement of the state’s new bathroom law. The online tip line has received more than 10,000 submissions in the one week it has been up and running, and none of the complaints appear legitimate, said Utah Auditor John Dougall. The tip line’s form asks people to report public school employees who knowingly allow someone to use the bathroom of the opposite sex. Utah’s new law, which the governor signed in January, prohibits trans-identifying people from using the bathroom of the opposite sex in government buildings like public schools. Schools and government agencies that fail to enforce the new rules can be fined up to $10,000 per day for each violation. The bill also establishes that the state’s legal definition of “male” and “female” is based on their reproductive systems rather than their gender identity. Since Wednesday when the tip line was first launched, transgender activists have posted it all over social media. They have also posted examples of the fake reports they submitted and encouraged others to flood the tip line. One of the activists, Erin Reed, a trans-identifying man, explained the hoax strategy to the Associated Press. “There will be people who are trans that go into bathrooms that are potentially reported by these sorts of forms, and so the community is taking on a protective role,” Reed said. “If there are 4,000, 5,000, 6,000 form responses that are entered in, it’s going to be much harder for the auditor’s office to sift through every one of them and find the one legitimate trans person who was caught using a bathroom.” The law’s main sponsor, Republican state Representative Kera Birkeland, stood by the tip line in the wake of the activists’ coordinated attack. “It’s not surprising that activists are taking the time to send false reports,” Birkeland said. “But that isn’t a distraction from the importance of the legislation and the protection it provides women across Utah.” CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILYWIRE+ APP Schools have come under particular scrutiny in recent years for allowing trans-identifying male students to use the girls’ bathroom and locker rooms. Many female students, especially those who play sports and use locker rooms to change and shower, have expressed their discomfort with sharing these facilities with trans-identifying male classmates and teammates. At least ten other states — Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, North Dakota, Oklahoma, and Tennessee — also have laws dealing with which bathrooms trans-identifying people can use.

New York City Democratic Mayor Eric Adams said on Tuesday that he would donate $5,000 of his own money to anyone who provides information that leads to the arrest and convictions of the vandals who trashed a World War I memorial in Central Park.  Adams’s promise comes after New York’s monument to the 107th U.S. Infantry was vandalized by anti-Israel protesters on Monday with graffiti that read “Gaza” and “Palestine will be free.” Protesters also burned an American flag and plastered the memorial with stickers with messages like “Stop the Genocide. End the apartheid. Free Palestine.” “In spite of the unpopular notion, I’m going to say it: I love America,” Adams said during a press conference in front of the memorial, according to the New York Post.   “We cannot remain silent when our symbols of freedom are desecrated by individuals who clearly hate our country and way of life,” he added. “I am not going to remain silent because our silence gives the belief that everything is OK.” The monument to the 107th Infantry, first dedicated in September 1927, pays tribute to the members of the unit’s Seventh Regiment who were vital in breaking Germany’s Hindenburg Line during the final months of World War I. The Seventh Regiment had an incredibly high casualty count  — with 396 men killed and 753 wounded out of 1,662 soldiers who fought. The monument was designed by Karl Illava, who served as a sergeant with the infantry.  “The 107th United States Infantry memorial in Central Park is a symbol of the freedoms so many fought and died for — the same freedoms many are abusing with cowardly acts of vandalism,” Adams said. “We cannot allow these symbols to be desecrated by some in our city wanting to cause chaos and disorder.” CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILYWIRE+ APP The mayor added that arresting the individuals responsible for the vandalism was a top priority for the New York Police Department (NYPD), which was running down several leads. New York Crime Stoppers is offering an additional $10,000 reward for information on the vandalism.  A monument honoring Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman, a leader in the Union Army during the Civil War, was also vandalized in Central Park on Monday evening. The anti-Israel protests in New York City were part of an organized “Day of Rage” demonstration that took place near the Met Gala, where celebrities gathered for the annual Costume Institute Benefit. It also fell on Holocaust Remembrance Day. Zach Jewell contributed to this report. 

Independent presidential hopeful Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said that some “cognitive issues” he suffered more than a decade ago could have stemmed from a parasite — a worm that he said “ate a portion” of his brain before it died. According to a New York Times article published on Wednesday, Kennedy had sought treatment in 2010 for what a friend was worried could be a brain tumor. He had been experiencing memory loss and a few other symptoms and had just lost his uncle — the late Senator Ted Kennedy (D-MA) — to brain cancer, so he went to get checked out. While his initial diagnosis was a tumor, one doctor suggested his scans indicated something else: a parasite. Kennedy recalled the doctor’s words in a 2012 deposition, saying that he believed the damage “was caused by a worm that got into my brain and ate a portion of it and then died.” CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILYWIRE+ APP “I have cognitive problems, clearly,” he said in the deposition, also noting that around the same time, he had been diagnosed with mercury poisoning — which was attributed to the amount of fish in his diet. “I have short-term memory loss, and I have longer-term memory loss that affects me.” Doctors eventually concluded that, after multiple repeat scans showed no change in Kennedy’s brain, the dark spot they had seen was not a tumor, but the remains of a parasite — possibly, the NYT said, a pork tapeworm larva that he could have contracted while traveling abroad. Kennedy says he has long since recovered and, throughout the campaign, has made it a point to show himself exercising and staying fit. Stefanie Spear, a spokesperson for his campaign, laughed off any concerns that his prior health issues would have any impact on his fitness to serve as president. “That is a hilarious suggestion, given the competition.” The 2012 deposition was part of Kennedy’s divorce proceedings with his second wife, Mary Richardson Kennedy, and according to The Times, “Mr. Kennedy was arguing that his earning power had been diminished by his cognitive struggles.”

CNN legal analyst Elie Honig said adult film actress Stormy Daniels gave “disastrous” responses during her appearance on Tuesday at former President Donald Trump‘s New York City hush-money trial. During a segment on CNN with other legal experts, Honig offered his take on the testimony, which included Stormy Daniels discussing her alleged 2006 hotel tryst with Trump that the former president has denied. While he contended that Daniels was believable when it came to the sex claim, Honig argued the cross-examination could spell trouble for prosecutors. “The cross-exam, boy, her responses were disastrous. I mean, ‘Do you hate Donald Trump?’ ‘Yes.’ Of course she does. That’s a big deal. When the witness hates the person whose liberty is at stake? That’s a big damn deal.” In the case brought by Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg, Trump faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to allegedly cover up payments, including to Daniels, in a bid to conceal damaging information as part of a “catch-and-kill” scheme to influence the 2016 election. He has pleaded not guilty. The trial began last month, and Daniels took the stand on Tuesday. CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILYWIRE+ APP During the cross-examination, Daniels said “yes” after being asked if she hated Trump. When pressed on whether she wants Trump to go to jail, Daniels said she wants “him to be held accountable” and “if he is found guilty, absolutely.” She also faced questions about tweets suggesting she does not want to pay $500,000 in legal fees to Trump after a failed defamation lawsuit. “The defense is going to say she’s willing to defy a court order,” Honig said after raising these issues. “Why — she’s not willing to respect an order of a judge, why is she going to respect this oath she took? I thought it went quite poorly on cross-exam. At the end of direct, I thought, OK, they got what they needed. But I think the cross is making real inroads.” Earlier, Honig said his impression was that Stormy Daniels had been “plausible on her explanation of what happened in that hotel room” in 2006. “It’s hard for me to believe that a juror heard that and thought, this is entirely made up,” he said, adding that although there “may well be some embellishments,” he thought it was “quite clear they had sex in 2006 in that hotel room.”

Whoopi Goldberg turned the justice system on its head during a Wednesday broadcast, ignoring that longstanding tradition of “innocent-until-proven-guilty” and suggesting that former President Donald Trump would not be on trial unless he had actually done what he was accused of doing. Goldberg and her cohosts on ABC’s “The View” were discussing the ongoing Manhattan-based hush money trial against Trump, and Goldberg — who had joked one day earlier about which prison would be best if Judge Juan Merchan made good on his threats to impose jail time for gag order violations — argued that Trump’s guilt was a foregone conclusion as far as she was concerned. WATCH: Whoopi supports so-called "criminal justice reform" but on the Trump trials: "I just think, if you didn't do it, why are you in the court?!"You brought this on yourself! Nobody did this to you…This is yours" pic.twitter.com/BtzqkvHfn5 — Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) May 8, 2024 “You know, I just think, if you didn’t do it, why are you in the court?” Goldberg asked, prompting everyone at the table to start talking at once about whether or not he planned to testify. “You brought this on yourself! You did this to you. Nobody did this to you. You — you told the untruth, you took stuff — this is on you, this isn’t them, this isn’t the judge, this is yours,” Goldberg continued. Just one day earlier, Goldberg and cohost Sunny Hostin were nearly giddy at the prospect of Trump being tossed “in the clink,” laughing and joking about which prison might be the best fit for him. Hostin initially suggested that Trump should be locked up on Rikers Island, but she appeared agreeable to Goldberg’s idea to reopen the infamous island fortress Alcatraz just to house the former president. CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILYWIRE+ APP “That’s what I got for number one,” Goldberg laughed as Hostin practically danced in her chair. “Rikers. But you know, I’m okay if he goes to Alcatraz and they reopen it. [laughter] What about … Guantanamo Bay?” “That’d be close to Mar-a-Lago,” co-host Ana Navarro said, prompting more laughter. “Melania can come and visit.”

President Joe Biden has made green energy a cornerstone of his policy agenda, investing tens of billions to promote renewable energy and electric cars. In April, the administration unveiled a plan for $20 billion in awards to foster clean energy in lower-income communities, announced a new offshore wind turbine project, and revealed $7 billion in new grants to develop solar power. However, there are some major reservations behind Biden’s full-steam-ahead approach to renewable energy — principally the concern about the fact that China almost totally controls the production of clean energy components. According to Bloomberg, China possesses more than 80% of the global manufacturing capacity for 11 clean energy components, including parts necessary for the building of solar panels and electric car batteries. It also holds a majority of the manufacturing capacity for parts necessary for the production of wind turbines. ?? – China’s share of global production capacity is now above 80% for 11 clean technologies• Massive Chinese investments mean that China's clean tech rise may not be over• Beijing also invested US$546bn in its own energy transition in 2022, around half of global financing pic.twitter.com/XWUd08RyKG — Agathe Demarais (@AgatheDemarais) April 30, 2024 By contrast, the United States controls 0% of the global manufacturing capacity for more than half of the components, and its highest capacity share is only 10% for hydrogen electrolyzers. U.S. allies like Japan, South Korea, and others in Europe also woefully lag behind China in clean tech production. China dominates the green energy supply chain, from raw materials to components to finished products. It produces 80% of the world’s solar panels, while the U.S. makes only 2%, and two-thirds of the wind turbines. Additionally, Chinese-made electric vehicles (EVs) comprise 60% of global sales. China exported $146 billion worth of EVs, lithium-ion batteries, and solar components in 2023. A single Chinese solar company, Tongwei Group, plans on expanding its facilities and aims by the end of the year to produce four times the amount of solar cells installed by the entire United States last year, The Washington Post reported. China will be the “main force leading the global energy transition,” Tongwei Chairman Liu Hanyuan told WaPo. CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILYWIRE+ APP China’s effort to become the preeminent manufacturer of green tech comes as the Chinese Communist Party searches for new ways to expand the nation’s economy as it remains comparatively sluggish in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, The Wall Street Journal noted. It has provided massive subsidies to green tech-related companies to stimulate the growth of the sector. China is also poised to control the raw materials that are used to build those green energy technologies, largely through its growing influence in Africa. As of 2022, African nations barely produced any of the world’s supply of lithium, but according to experts, Africa is sitting on a potential lithium bonanza. While Australia mined 55,000 metric tons of lithium in 2021, Zimbabwe, a landlocked nation in southern Africa, is projected to extract over 100,000 tons of lithium by 2031, according to the Financial Times. Mali, in West Africa, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), in Central Africa, are also expected to become major producers of lithium while Namibia, Ghana, and Ethiopia will become moderate producers. The problem for the U.S. stems from the fact that China has been investing in these countries for years, and China owns or partially owns many of the companies that are poised to exploit the coming lithium boom. The top lithium-producing companies in both Mali and the DRC are partially owned by China, while 3 out of the 4 major lithium mining companies in Zimbabwe are entirely owned by the communist nation. Just one lithium mine in Zimbabwe, owned by a Chinese company, is estimated to hold up to 11 million metric tons of the mineral, according to CNBC. Zimbabwe banned the export of raw lithium in December 2022 to encourage domestic processing, but the three Chinese-owned companies, which have invested $678 million into lithium projects in the country and have announced plans for development projects that reach into the billions, are exempt from the regulation. Indeed, Zimbabwe has been a major beneficiary of China’s Belt and Road Initiative, a foreign investment and infrastructure policy that critics have argued is a debt trap for poorer nations. As of 2023, China has invested tens of billions in African nations, including Zimbabwe, the DRC, Mali, and Ghana — all places where mining is projected to spike in the coming years. Additionally, the DRC has a stranglehold on the mining of cobalt, another crucial mineral in the production of EV batteries, producing an estimated 70% of the world’s supply. Chinese companies also have significant control over those mines in the DRC and ones in Zambia. In 2020, China held complete or partial ownership in 15 of the 19 operating cobalt mines in the DRC, The Economist reported. Biden’s zeal to transition the U.S. away from fossil fuels has left it vulnerable to China’s control of the supply chain for green technologies. Though China’s monopoly, at least on components and finished products, is unlikely to last forever, it currently possesses a decisive advantage over every other nation on Earth that it will certainly use to its economic and strategic advantage. To compete with China’s state-sponsored green revolution, the Biden administration would have to vastly increase government subsidies for green tech initiatives and support private efforts to gain an innovation advantage over the CCP.

Anti-Israel protesters at Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) in Cleveland, Ohio, tried to stand guard over a wall they had vandalized, and when they refused to stand down, the contractor hired to repaint the wall simply painted over them. The wall had been covered with red handprints and what CWRU President Eric Kaler referred to in a letter as “threatening, intimidating and antisemitic” language. Another wall was also painted by protesters, Kaler noted, saying that the language on that wall was “less threatening but still intimidating to some in our community.” In that same letter, he announced the university’s plans to paint over the walls: “The university has painted over the advocacy wall and will complete painting over the spirit wall this morning.” Kaler also acknowledged reports that students had been hit by paint as the third-party contractors went about repainting the walls — and he promised to investigate. The video, which quickly circulated on social media, showed three protesters standing in front of a wall while the contractor painted over the graffiti. When he got to where the protesters stood, he kept painting — after allowing them time to put on face shields. WATCH: Contractors hired to paint at Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) in Cleveland, Ohio decided the protesters wouldn't stop them from doing their job today pic.twitter.com/QuF6tsJnj4 — Dixie (@OSiiNT) May 7, 2024 People could be heard in the video pointing out that the protesters did not have to stand there. Campus police, standing by as the situation unfolded, stated that they had informed the protesters that they would get paint on them if they chose not to move out of the way. “We had just put up beautiful Pro-Palestinian art and at 5 a.m. Tuesday, they told them to come in and cover it up and they spray painted over two students and a passerby that were trying to guard the wall,” student JD Harrison complained to a local FOX affiliate. CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILYWIRE+ APP Kaler later announced that he had viewed the video and said that he was “disturbed” by the way the students had been treated — and after offering his apologies, said that he planned to investigate the campus police who did not step in and stop the contractors. “Let me be clear: No students—or any individuals—should ever be treated this way, especially on a campus where our core values center on providing a safe, welcoming environment. This is not who we are as an institution, and I am deeply sorry this ever occurred,” Kaler continued. “The university will continue to fully investigate these actions and hold individuals responsible for this behavior, including the failure of our own officers to intervene.” Kaler had previously told students that their “solidarity encampment” was illegal and must be taken down and denied their demands that the university divest from any support of Israel.